The Sixteen presents its 25th Choral Pilgrimage:

Lead, Kindly Light

A celebration of the Spanish Renaissance with works from the 16th century at the heart of the programme

• World premiere by Kerensa Briggs: Featuring the premiere of Lead, Kindly Light by composer Kerensa Briggs, alongside works by Vivanco, Morales and Sir James MacMillan

• A UK-wide Pilgrimage: The Sixteen will perform in over 20 iconic venues across the UK, beginning the journey with an album release on CORO Records on 6 March 2026

• Wellbeing Choral Workshops will take place for the first time in four venues across the pilgrimage – Rochester, Oxford, Peterborough and Edinburgh – designed to promote the voice and wellbeing of singers

Looking ahead to the 2026 Choral Pilgrimage, founder and conductor of The Sixteen Harry Christophers, says:

“For our 25th Choral Pilgrimage, we are going to explore the wealth of Renaissance music emanating from Spain. In 16th-century Europe, Spain was very much the most powerful country in Europe. It was arguably also the most influential, truly imperial with the acquisition of vast new lands in the Americas, a plethora of universities and a wealth of great art and music.

Our programme concentrates on two composers, Cristóbal de Morales, the old and revered master, and Sebastián de Vivanco, who represents the last generation of Renaissance style composers in Spain. Their works are complemented by the setting of two poems by St. John Henry Newman: Kerensa Briggs’ new commission ‘Lead, Kindly Light’ and Sir James MacMillan’s ‘Nothing in Vain’. We look forward to introducing our audiences to these works, and to the discoveries of realms explored by these four composers”.

 Choral Pilgrimage – Lead, Kindly Light (16 April – 17 October)

The range of emotion covered by composers in the Spanish Renaissance is demonstrated beautifully in the selected works by Cristóbal de Morales and Sebastián de Vivanco that form the basis of this Choral Pilgrimage: Lead, Kindly Light.

Plagued by illness throughout his life, Morales suffered moments of great disappointment and misery, which is made more poignant by the quality of his music. Sadness to great rejoicing is exemplified in the beautiful yet highly impassioned setting of Jacob’s lament for his two sons, Joseph and Benjamin (Lamentabatur Jacob) and his ebullient motet rejoicing in peace, Jubilate Deo omnis terra.

While Morales spent time in Rome, Vivanco remained in Spain all his life. The walled city of Ávila came to be the birthplace of three distinguished figures, not only the mystic, Teresa of Ávila, but also two highly revered composers, one the internationally renowned Tomás Luis de Victoria, and the other less well known but extremely talented, Vivanco. His sumptuous 8-part Magnificat, lively and brilliantly scored, and the exotic 9-part Caritas Pater est are testament to that.

The mysticism of Teresa of Ávila echoes in the words of St John Henry Newman, a figure whose philosophy and faith has reverberated through the Choral Pilgrimage in recent years. His writings represent a rich and thought-provoking legacy, which is reflected in Kerensa Briggs’ Lead, Kindly Light and Sir James MacMillan’s Nothing in Vain – commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for The Sixteen in 2021.

The Sixteen’s Choral Pilgrimage 2026 will tour across the UK, visiting over 20 locations, beginning at Southwell Minster (16 April) and finishing at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh (17 October). Lead, Kindly Light will also be released on the CORO label on 6 March 2026, featuring the programme from the 2026 Choral Pilgrimage. The album will also be available in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos.

Tour programme and album track listing:

Sebastián de VIVANCO     Christus factus est pro nobis

Cristóbal de MORALES     Emendemus in Melius 

Sebastián de VIVANCO     Assumpta est Maria a6  

Cristóbal de MORALES     Gaude et laetare Ferrariensis civitas 

Kerensa BRIGGS                Lead, kindly light (new commission by The Sixteen)

Sebastián de VIVANCO     Magnificat Octavi toni 

Cristóbal de MORALES     Jubilate Deo omnis terra 

Sebastián de VIVANCO     O quam suavis est, Domine a4  

Cristóbal de MORALES     Exaltata est sancta Dei Genitrix a6  

Cristóbal de MORALES     Lamentabatur Jacob a5 

Sebastián de VIVANCO     Caritas Pater est a9  

Sir James MACMILLAN     Nothing in Vain (commissioned by the Genesis Foundation, 2021)

 The Sixteen Ignite

The Sixteen Ignite, The Sixteen’s Learning and Participation programme, reached more participants than ever before in 2025. In 2026, the programme will expand to a wide demographic of people, including young people in schools, youth choirs, music hubs and cathedral choirs, and adults in community settings and choral workshops engaging members of the public at every level and every age.

Accompanying the Choral Pilgrimage this year will be a new series of Wellbeing Choral Workshops. These unique and transformative choral workshops are designed to nurture both the voice and wellbeing, combining the art of singing with the science of vocal and nutritional health. The workshops will take place in Rochester, Oxford, Peterborough and Edinburgh, and are led by Eamonn Dougan(Associate Conductor of The Sixteen), Charlotte Mobbs (Soprano in The Sixteen, Vocal Habilitation Specialist and Vocal Massage Therapist) and Julie Cooper (Soprano in The Sixteen, Nutritional Therapist).

 In Autumn 2025, The Sixteen announced three new pathways for young singers: Academy, Inspireand Digital. In recognising the need for greater diversity within choral music, and the need to address the overall decline of the provision of music in schools, The Sixteen is ambitious in its plans to increase exposure and access to choral music for young people across the UK, as well as improve the representation of currently under-represented groups within the choral industry.

The three pathways are:

The Sixteen Ignite: Academy, a new fully funded programme for singers aged 14 – 18 to gain experience in working in training environments, and to prepare them for young singers programmes, such as Genesis Sixteen, The Sixteen’s fully funded young artists programme for 18 – 23-year-olds. The Academy will support 44 young people who show exceptional potential and who have faced barriers in accessing training in choral music.

The Sixteen Ignite: Inspire, building on The Sixteen’s Talent Development programme, a collaborative partnership between The Sixteen and youth choirs across the UK. This partnership sees The Sixteen provide workshops to support young singers in established youth choirs including Barnsley Youth Choir, the Diocese of Leeds Schools Singing Programme and Cathedral Choirs, London Youth Choirs and Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choir. The Talent Development programme will continue to partner with new and existing choirs, with a new influx of funding to enable the programme to reach as wide a demographic of young people as possible.

The Sixteen Ignite: Digital is a set of free digital resources featuring The Sixteen, and its founder and conductor Harry Christophers. The resources will be distributed to primary and secondary schools across the UK, allowing students the opportunity to learn specially arranged songs and sing virtually with the renowned choir. Along with the digital assets, teachers will receive a resource pack with cross-curricular activities, as well as an in-person CPD session to look at the repertoire in detail.

Genesis Sixteen

Genesis Sixteen, The Sixteen’s free young artists’ programme for 18 – 23-year-olds, will open for applications for the 2026-27 cohort on Friday 28 November. Prospective applicants who wish to benefit from a series of week-long and weekend choral courses led by Harry Christophers and Eamonn Dougan should apply by Friday 23 January 2026.

For further press information, please contact:

RDMR

Grace Filmer, Press Officer | grace@rdmr.co.uk | +44 (0) 7498 918 350

Performance Dates

Lead, Kindly Light

Thursday 16 April, Southwell Minster

Friday 17 April, Derby Cathedral

Saturday 18 April, Peterborough Cathedral

Friday 24 April, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Saturday 25 April, Blackburn Cathedral

Friday 8 May, Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge

Tuesday 12 May, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich

Friday 15 May, Douai Abbey, Reading (on sale February 2026)

Saturday 6 June, Rochester Cathedral

Thursday 11 June, Exeter Cathedral

Friday 12 June, Truro Cathedral

Monday 15 June, Croydon Minster

Saturday 4 July, York Minster (on sale February 2026)

Thursday 3 September, St Martin-in-the-Fields, London

Thursday 10 September, Hereford Cathedral

Friday 11 September, Wells Cathedral

Saturday 12 September, Tewkesbury Abbey

Saturday 19 September, Chichester Cathedral

Thursday 15 October, Middlesborough Cathedral

Friday 16 October, Hexham Abbey

Saturday 17 October, Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh

Wellbeing Workshops

Sunday 26 April, Peterborough

Saturday 13 June, Rochester

Sunday 28 June, Oxford

Sunday 18 October, Edinburgh